I played TSW at launch and then on and off for a few years and I was wondering how different the relaunched game was in comparison to the original. Mainly I was wondering if the clunky feeling the UI and combat has improved any? And how is SWL working out in terms of RP community? Thanks for any answers

Well, it really is a love it or hate it thing. They cut a lot, simplified a lot. Personally, I liked the old system better than the new streamlined one, but, realistically, that has more to do with me being with the game from Beta and having a deeper than average understanding of how the various synergies worked. Those synergies are basically gone in SWL. Each weapon is a kingdom unto itself with its’ own skills. You will be steeply limited in weapon choice. You get your first two, then you need to buy additional ones for either in game currency (Marks of Favor) or real life money (Aurum). We also lost Tab Targeting and gained a Reticule. In their defence, Combat is easier and smoother than it was (as long as you were not dependant on Tabing or cannot stand Reticles).
As to the RP community, I have little interaction with them, but from my experience, they are present and reasonably well organised, but in reduced numbers from TSW. Of course, it is tough to tell real numbers because one of the things they have done is severely restrict the number of people in an individual instance in order to give the game an ‘empty world’ feel.

The tedious builder -> builder -> consumer combat system is gone. The new system is simpler but gives each weapon a distinct playstyle mechanic so playing different weapon combinations ends up being more interesting than the old system. I would call it interesting and good-but-not-great, an overall definite improvement.

Story and quests are mostly the same, some quality of life improvements to avoid excessive running from point A to point B. No more PvP, just Shambala. The dungeons now have selectable difficulty scaling factors.

Important note about the new gear: the midpoint of the new system (purple) is all you need for the current storyline and the unscaled dungeons. There is no need to upgrade beyond purple unless you want to do the scaled up content.

SWL feels somewhat simpler, faster, a bit more streamlined. Story and content and all that is the essentially the same, although things are shifted around somewhat. Combat is smoother but has less of the overall complexity and synergy that JORifice mentioned, also a good many of the TSW abilities are removed. Enough remains to give a good amount of progression however.

Combat animations in SWL are significantly slower than TSW ones (at least on instant weapons). It’s quite jarring honestly. Animations end way after monsters die. Overall pace of combat is also way down if you’re playing in an effective build; monsters have more attacks worth of hp. The way it feels to me is every attack you do is a tsw builder.

Most of the “new weapon mechanics” are just repurposed active abilities; for example two Blade abilities, Steel Echo and Point of Harmony, turned into its mechanic. The hammer mechanic is just molten steel but for all your attacks.

The major differences that I noted.
Please feel free to ignore my personal remarks if you just like the facts and no opinion:

Currency: You no longer have Pax and FC-Points and BB and… etc you’ll get it. While in TSW, you earned Pax from missions, there is no ingame currency in SWL that missions give you to buy stuff from the AH like that. The new game features Marks of Favour (which can however be earned from daily challenges and therefore grind or gameplay up to a set limit.) and Aurum (real money that also can be exchanged for MoF). Doing missions will grant you Anima Shards, which are used to upgrade your gear.

Crafting: There is none anymore. No self made weapons, talismans, potions etc. Assembly for missions is right-clicking the respective item.

Levels: Everything has -somewhat like before but more in your face- levels. You up to 50, which is reached before endgame and your gear has levels depending on rarity. Rather than going up to a maximum QL of 10.x on a purple which once was your highest rarity(didn’t upgrade purple higher than 10.5 but I guess one could go to 11?) your green items level up to 20, blue to 25, purple to 30, orange/mythic to 35 and the final red/legendary to 70. To create a blue item, you can either wait for one to drop, or fuse two lvl 20 green ones together. Meaning there’s always at least two items for each slot that you need to upgrade at any given time until you hit maximum aka legendary. You can take Aurum bought shortcuts up to purple however. There’s no upgrade toolkits anymore, since you more or less upgrade with talismans and weapons.

Personal remark: While some people feel motivated by seeing numbers go up, I lose all hope when I see that high numbers and am nowhere close with purple. I’m just not the competative type. In TSW, it was easier ignoring numbers, but now everything has one^^

Reticule: See for yourself. You have no option to turn it off.

Personal remark: I suck at memorizing buttons and when under time pressure, I mix them up. Clicking however is no longer possible. Targetting when you are not in a group is mere luck. Try to heal a random player when you first have to be within reach, look at them with your reticule and then you hit tab and hope you’ll get them. If that one stands alone, lucky you, if not, you might get the other bees in that aproximate direction. For using small interactable objects ingame (e.g. elevator buttons) you have to look into some funny directions to use the right one. Meaning even if you have a point reticule, it has a much larger area of effect, which can make it very unprecise. Moving around however IS easier, while a simple camera turn without moving your character -important for Gaki- requires an additional button press. Also, looking at enemy stats, buffs and debuffs requires pressing alt, before you can mouse over. For me, reticule is horror.

Active and Passive Abilities: Get MoF and unlock the ability to use and skill a weapon. You no longer have the Wheel. Hence the option to use every weapon you like and then spend earned points in whichever ability you like is no longer there. So choose your starter class wisely, you’ll have to work for the rest.
As explained before, you no longer have builders. Only non-energy-consuming abilities. So instead of smashing the builder button, you now smash the non-consumer button when out of energy.

Level restrictions: You can’t progress your storyline even if you technically could. There’s a level cap that will not let you continue. Hence accessing higher zones as a low level is no longer possible.

Faction ranks: You still seem to have them, but you can’t view them. Currently, you are handed your first uniform at Rank 5 and your second at Rank 10. Higher ranks are not implemented and there is no way to ascend for now.

Agent Network: Newest feature available at Rank 3.

Personal remark: After you merely got a glimpse at things, you are deemed trustworthy enough to handle your own recruit. While I totally like the feature, since it gives me the pssibility to interact with my faction, some major points in it simply don’t make sense to me. But try it out.

Character Editor: Less options than before. Presets only. Guess it is a like or don’t like thing.

Graphics: Take a look at KM at night… beautiful <3

Factionmissions: Aside from the ones now woven into your story line, there are none.

Dungeons: You can now enjoy running dungeons easily even on your own in Story Mode. Careful though! While story will get you through a dungeon like a hot knife through butter, Elite will kick your butt in direct comparison. The power gap is obvious.

Personal remark: I’m a big fan of the Story Mode feature! Never really liked grouping up with strangers and preferred going with a friend or alone. For me that added a lot to that eerie feeling the game gives off.

Loot: Don’t expect seeing loot drops anywhere. Be it out in the world or in dungeons. You have dungeon and lair keys now and everything is random. No keys in lair = no loot from the summons.

Agartha: Jump pads! Wheee! So no need to figure out where to go. Agartha somewhat became a main hub. With an official dance floor You even have a nice atmospheric bar where you can sit at the tables with everyone.

Aside from starting there, collecting lore and going there once, main hubs are more empty than in TSW.

Wings / Ultimate Ability: Still there, still beautiful. No longer heal you, so be careful when you use them as a last resort. All “colours” can be bought and used.

Personal remark: Which makes your choices rather meaningless from an RP standpoint of view. So, when for me it is epicness killing and immersion breaking, others really enjoy not having a fixed colour. Live and let live.

Ability System: Very simplyfied. Like mentioned before by @JOrifice . No synergies, no affliction, no tinkering necessary. Have a pistol? Don’t bother looking elsewhere for additional abilities than in the specified tab. A blessing for those, who were not good with the more complex wheel. Saves them time. Also, you now have stat boosters in your passives tree.

Personal remark: For me the new system is boring. But don’t confuse that with the abilities not making sense or something. They do work and are well thought through

Animations: Kicks for Chaos and runes drawn in the air for Blood. Just to name some examples. Sweet <3

Minigames: Each weapon has a minigame. Careful: Not taking care of some minigames can hurt your character. Read the weapon description in your ability tab for more info. Personal remark: I’d rather be without that mechanic. I mostly use weapons where you can ignore them. So just in case you are more nay than yay about those minigames, worry not, some are harmless

Dressing Room: All clothing and weapon skins are stored here. Once unlocked with that character, you can change your weapon looks with a simple click. No toolkit necessary. The dressing room also works as the ingame store, so take a look^^ There’s some awesome new deck outfits in there!

Content: Unchanged if you are looking at the story and issues. But in general, less than TSW. We have a new lair in Kaidan though.

AEGIS gone
Personal remark: While I liked the AEGIS and also thinks it makes a lot of sense for the enemies to have it, the implementation and grind up wasn’t a good thing. Kaidan is a lot less dangerous now. From the impression of difficulty, Transylvania was harder.

Personal additions: Edgar lost his dog Tango and Cash are both in the mission cutscene and in Tyler Freeborn mission, but only one of them is ingame. I miss them. But there were also a lot of things improved in means of missions that sent you from A to C and back to B and Anima Well placement and…
All in all one I could say SWL is a highly simplified TSW. For some, that is a relief and for others, it is not. I sincerely hope you will try everything out for yourself and make your own opinion.

I know Have the key bind for that. Yet it is less precise for me than having the option to directly click someone. I hit tab a lot lol Next friendly if there’s 10 bees including pets in front or near you makes a lot of possible targets.